Flash can’t play StarCraft anymore. Shall we bet against him in the ASL?

Aug 07, 2019

Updated: Oct 21, 2019

Flash can’t play StarCraft anymore. Shall we bet against him in the ASL?

Mr. Lee Young Ho, more commonly known among the StarCraft community as Flash, said on his stream that he was going to stop playing the leagues after ongoing Afreeca Starleague Season 8. The reason for this is that he keeps having pain is his hand, and recently in his shoulder too.

I got used to playing with pain. It affects every day of my life a lot. Nowadays it hurts even if I sit still and don’t do anything.

— Lee ‘Flash’ Young Ho

Flash said that he planned to play one more ASL season before starting to do his military service initially. However, his doctor suggested reducing the amount of practice right now. And he has to play 20 to 30 games a day to prepare to the league matches because the opponents are still strong enough not to allow even Flash to beat them without preparation. And at this point, this is physically not possible for Flash anymore.

There is also a possibility that Flash will be enlisted under a remedial class 4, which means a physical disability and exempt from the military service. But even then he will cut his StarCraft play and only participate in a team league for AfreecaTV broadcasters.

During his career, Flash won OnGameNet StarLeague three times, MBCGame StarLeague three times, Afreeca StarLeague three times, and Proleague with his team KT Rolster two times. He is considered the greatest StarCraft: Brood War player of all times.

Is it time to bet against Flash in the ASL now?

The next opponent of Flash in the ASL S8 will be Light, and a match format will be best-of-five. TvT usually goes into 30+ minute games, which is quite a lot. As Flash will be unwilling to play long sets, he might try aggressive strategies, but those usually don’t go well in a high-level TvT.

What does it mean?

Right now a coefficient on Flash’s win is 1.02 and on Light’s win — 7.61. It is nearly 93% against 7%. But I believe that under the circumstances, it is in fact about 70/30. Flash will still be a favorite under no question, but wrong evaluation from bookmakers creates a room to make on ordinary bet on Light here.

If you still believe you would better go with Flash, consider betting on the fact that Flash will lose at least one map because of his attempts to end games quick.

And in any case, I don’t recommend to include this match in your express.

Also, if Flash will win, he will most likely face the Protoss player Rain next, and it will lead him to a nearly-the-same situation. However, we will have to look at the coefficients first.